Communications

Pursuant to the state’s public records law, I am requesting access to and copies of records from your agency as part of our continuing coverage of gun trafficking. I have broken the request into three parts, each of which details the records that we are seeking. As expressed below, the date range for each part of this request is January 1, 2010 to the present:

1) Detailed information on stolen guns

It is our understanding that law enforcement agencies keep detailed records about firearms that were reported stolen by the citizens they serve. We are therefore requesting the following for each case of reported firearm theft in your jurisdiction:

-- The police report number and/or incident number for the firearm theft-- The serial number, make, model, caliber, type and any other descriptive information for each firearm that was reported stolen

We would appreciate if this data was provided in a spreadsheet. If a spreadsheet is provided, please provide any record layout and/or code sheets.

The date range for this part is January 1, 2010 to the present.

2) Detailed information about crime guns

Second, it is our understanding that law enforcement agencies maintain detailed records about firearms that were used in crimes, recovered at crimes scenes or seized during investigations in their jurisdictions, including the make, model and serial number of each gun. We are therefore requesting the following:

-- The following records regarding firearms used in crimes in your agency’s jurisdiction, recovered at crime scenes or seized during investigations: the make, model, and serial number of each gun; the date of the crime; the police report number for the crime; the type of crime the firearm was used in; and the address where the crime was committed.

If your agency maintains a spreadsheet or database containing these records, we ask that you please provide that database. I would be grateful if this data was collated into a spreadsheet where each row represents one case, the same as part 1) “Detailed information about stolen guns.”

I would like to note that we are not at this time seeking copies of police reports or any other investigative records associated with these crimes; we are only seeking information about the firearms used and some general information about the crimes that is generally released to the public.

The date range for this part is also January 1, 2010 to the present.

3) Detailed information on lost, stolen or unaccounted for law enforcement guns

Finally, it is our understanding that law enforcement agencies maintain detailed records about firearms that, while under the control and/or in the possession of their employees, went missing, were lost or stolen, or are otherwise accounted for. Therefore we request the following:

-- Any and all records of department-issued firearms that were lost, stolen, went missing or are otherwise accounted for.

-- If your department does not issue firearms, then we ask for any and all records of firearms that were lost, stolen, went missing or otherwise became unaccounted for while under the control and/or in the possession of one of your employees.

The records should include but not be limited to the following:

• The make, model, serial number and caliber of each lost or stolen firearm• The location and address where the firearm was stolen• The date of the loss or theft. • The date the lost or theft was reported• Whether each lost or stolen firearm was recovered• If the lost or stolen firearm was recovered, the date and location of the recovery• A description of how the firearm was lost or stolen• Whether negligence on the part of the employee is/was suspected in the loss or theft of the firearm• Whether the employee in control of the firearm retired, was terminated or otherwise left the department, and if so, the date and circumstances of the employee’s departure and whether his or her gun was retrieved and/or recovered. • Any other individual reports and findings on the individual lost or stolen firearms

The records should include but not be limited to databases, reports, memos, internal affairs investigations, emails or other correspondence, and/or any other records.

The date range for this part is also January 1, 2010 to the present.

Please label each record in a clear manner. As a news organization, we will be making information obtained from this request available to the general public and are not requesting it for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you informed me of the total charges before completing my request. We request that if you send an invoice, you make it out to The Trace.

I would prefer the requested information be sent via an e-mail attachment if available, or a mailed CD-ROM if not. If standard mail must be used, we ask that you send the request to the following address:

The Saint Paul Police Department is in receipt of your data request (see below). In order to obtain the data you request put it in the format you want requires us to build out program codes to extract the data. We estimate the cost to fulfill your data request will be in the hundreds of dollars. Please send a down payment of $20 (checks made payable to the Saint Paul Police Department) to my attention at the address listed below. Upon receipt of your payment, we will start working on your request.

Per Minnesota State Statute 13.82 subd. 20, serial numbers are considered non-public data, therefore I am unable to release that information. There would still be significant costs to build out code for make and model for each request. Plus the search time for in addition to any inventory reports, memos, audits, inventory reviews, etc needed for item #3 of your request.

Item #3 (like the others) is a two part process. The first part is to build/run/test code to identify the data you requested. The cost estimate is approximately $10.00. The bigger cost to your request is the second part of your request of which you want “all records” related to the lost/stolen or unaccounted for law enforcement guns. I have no idea the cost, as it depends on what data is found when the code is run.

Please advise if you would like us to start on the first part of #3- building/testing/running the code? If so, once completed we will send you an invoice. We will have a better idea at that time what the cost may be to complete the second part of Item #3.

The code was built/run and there are no firearms lost/stolen/unaccounted for in the City of Saint Paul during the time frame you provided. Because there is no responsive data, there is no charge for building/running the code.